Vacuum ejector for dental debris



June 28, 1955 Filed Feb. 16, 1953 J. R. GROVES VACUUM EJECTOR FOR DENTALDEBRIS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 JAMES R GROVES INVENTOR June 28, 1955 J GROVES2,711,586

VACUUM EJECTOR FOR DENTAL DEBRIS Filed Feb. 16, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2FIG 7 24 26 JAMES R. GROVES INVENTOR 66 United States Patent VACUUMEJECTOR FOR DENTAL DEBRIS James R. Groves, Seattle, Wash.

Application February 16, E53, Serial No. 336,954

' 6 Claims. (Cl. 32-33 This present invent-ion relates to the generalart of dental ejectors, or siphons, and more particularly to an ejectordesigned to remove dental debris by suction without the use of water.The device is generally similar 'in appearance to the ordinary dentalhand piece and is to be connected, for use, to a source of negativepressure usually of the type where a small motor drives a vacuum pumpwhich in turn is directly connected to the hand piece by suction tubing.A characteristic of the equipment is that the outline of the nozzle,which can be varied for different teeth, should be small enought to lienormally Within the margins of the tooth being worked upon and theterminal portion of the hand piece should be so constructed that whenthe nozzle itself is in the optimum position it can be easily held by anurse or assistant in such a manner as not to hinder the operation ofthe dentist nor in any Way obscure his vision.

In the past a number of attempts have been made to solve the problem ofremoving dry grindings or other dental debris from the teeth in order toavoid the use of water and the flushing of the often sharp materialsthrough the mouth. A common means employed is to use an air blast. Thisis objectionable in that the sharp dust is driven into the eyes, noseand skin of both the dentist and the patient. Further if the tooth pulpis exposed the sharp particles may cause considerable pain to thepatient. in this present instance I have avoided the use of any bulky orotherwise undesirable equipment and have provided that only a smalldiameter tube should actually be inserted within the oral cavity. To theend of the suction tube is connected a yieldable tip, made of rubber, orsome of the yieldable plastic materials. The tips themselves must be ofrelatively small size so they will not obscure the vision of thedentist. This present equipment in no way hampers the operation of thedental hand piece as can so easily occur when the evacuation equipmentis operably secured to the hand piece. It is therefore believed thatthis present equipment provides a most satisfactory solution of thisperplexing problem and will thus be found to be a real contribution inthe advancement of the held.

The principal object of this present invention is to provide an ejectorfor dry dental debris which equipment is so proportioned as to removethe debris directly from the tooth as it is produced by the dental burror other equipment used by the dentist.

A further object of this invention is to provide an ejector for dentaldebris which is in no way secured to the dentists hand piece and whichwill not hinder his free use of the same.

A further object of this invention is to provide yieldable tips adaptedto engage the surface of the tooth being worked upon but which, becauseof their small size, will not hinder the dentist in his operation.

A further object of this invention is to provide a dental debris ejectorhaving a nozzle which normally is smaller than the outline of the toothbeing worked upon and which, because of its small sized suction opening,

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can be supplied with a high degree of suction by a relatively smallvacuum pump.

Further objects, advantages and capabilities will be apparent from/thedescription and disclosure in the drawings, 'or may be comprehended orare inherent in the device.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating the hand piece used withthis present equipment and showing one form of nozzle and tip secured toit;

Figure 2 is a perspective view showing the manner in which a tooth istreated and showing the employment of my vacuum ejector in associationwith the dental hand piece;

Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional view through the hand piecefollowing the teachings of this invention and showing one form of nozzleand one form of tip employed with the nozzle;

Figure 4 is an exploded perspective view illustrating the valving meansemployed to control the opening in the vacuum line;

Figure 5 is a perspective view showing one form of nozzle for use withthis equipment; and

Figures 6 and 7 illustrate alternate forms of tips used with the nozzleof Figure 5, or nozzles of other conformation.

Referring more particularly to the disclosure in the drawings, thenumeral 10 designates the hand piece tube. This tube forms the maincomponent of the hand piece and is preferably knurled on the outside asindicated at 1 2 to facilitate the handling of the hand piece. At oneend tube It is fixedly secured, as by threading thereto, to theinterrupter valve housing 14. At its opposite end tube 10 is formed withan enlarged or flange member providing the valve plate 16. Throughoutthe tubular portion of member 10, the bore 18 is straight, and then,when it enters the valve plate, it is angularly disposed for therelatively short portion 20. Adapted to coact with angular portion 20 isan angular portion 22 of the tube extending through valve member 24.With this arrangement, the abutting ends of tubes 20 and 22 can bevariously positioned with respect to each other. In Figure 3 they havebeen shown in one extreme position where they form an actual completeshutoff between bore 18 and the tubular portion 26 of valve member 24.The opposite extreme position would be where tubes 20 and 22 are fullysuperimposed upon each other, thus permitting the maximum flow throughthe tubes.

In order to give the nurse or assistant a graduated index reflecting thesettings of this valve arrangement, the valve housing. 28 is providedwith a ball detent 30, which is spring seated, adapted to engage any oneof a plurality of depressions 32 formed in the body of tube 10. Indicesare provided as at 34 on the outer end portion of housing 28 as will benoted in Figures 2 and 4. Thus it is possible to preset the valve memberto provide any degree of valving action between tubes 20 and 22.

At its opposite end tube '10 has its bore axially aligned with the bore36 of housing .14 and in alignment with this bore is the bore 38 ofnozzle 40. An interrupter or shutofi? valve 42 is provided having thecylindrical valve member 44 of sufiicient diameter to entirely closebore 36 when it is fully depressed against the compression spring 46. Toinsure a complete closure of bore 36 housing 14 is recessed at 48 toaccommodate the inboard end of cylinder 44. Suitable means as the nut 50is provided to hold the valve assembly in position.

A plurality of nozzles 40 is provided for use with this ejector. Theseare normally made of metal but are supplied in different forms so as toreadily adapt the device to ditterent positions of use. Two such formshave been illustrated in Figures 3 and 5 respectively. The nozzles areprovided with a snap ring 52 seated in a groove within the hub portion54 of the nozzle and adapted to resiliently engage a companion groove inhousing 14 so that the nozzle can be quickly changed as conditionsrequire. In the various forms of nozzles the extreme outer end istapered as at 56 so that tips of various types after the representativeshowings of Figures 3, 6, and 7 may be easily engaged thereon and mayfurther be disposed in the most effective angular relationship with thenozzle.

The tips 60 used in association with nozzle 40 are preferably made ofyieldable material. Rubber may be employed. However the yieldableplastics appear to be most generally useful, especially in that they maybe made of transparent material and thus the engagement of the workingsurfaces of the same as 62 can be observed in their exact relationshipwith the tooth surface. Tips 60 should be provided with a plurality ofdifferent shapes in the contact surface 62 because they must be madequite small; and in this particular it is to be observed that throughoutthe drawings the tips themselves are shown on an exaggerated scale; itbeing desirable that the working surface be small enough normally to befully contained within the projected area of the tooth upon which workis being done. In order to accommodate the tips 60 to a variety ofoperations the same may be provided with a round intake opening, or theopenings may be elongated as indicated at 68, or the shape may be variedto suit the need, as an example, in the showing of Figure 6 in which aU-shaped opening 69 is employed. The neck portions 64 of the tips arepreferably formed with a tapered bore to the end that they can besecurely engaged with the tapered portion 56 of the nozzles 40 and willseat in any angular relationship thereon in a manner which will preventany vacuum leakage at this point. When the term small is used inconnection with tips 60 in the specification and claims, this means thatthe size of tips used inside of the dental cavity has a maximumcrosssectional dimension of approximately of an inch. However, it shouldbe pointed out that on occasions tips of a larger size are used outsideof the dental cavity in such operations as shaping and polishing theteeth with a disc.

' Method of operation In preparing to use this device a suction hose isslipped onto the annularly grooved end 66 of valve member 24 and thenconnected to a source of vacuum pressure. Many dental engines areprovided with such a source. However a relatively small vacuum pump withits own motor may be employed if desired especially in view of the factthat the whole construction of this equipment lends itself to a mode ofoperation in which a minimum of air enters the system due to relativelysmall working openings in tips 60. When the term vacuum pump is used inthe specification and claims, this is defined as a pump producing avacuum of a high order in comparison with such means as the usual waterpowered siphon used for a saliva ejector.

When the dentist has assumed his working position, his assistant holdsthe hand piece of the ejector after the showing of Figure 2 while thedentist works with hand piece 70 having burr 72. The assistant selects anozzle 40 and a tip 60 which will best work with the location of thetooth and the shape of the cavity. It is important that the ejectorequipment be disposed so as not to interfere with the normal working ofthe dentist. The assistant h then, guided by past experience, will setthe desired relationship between tube 10 and valve member 24 by means ofthe indices 34. In so doing it is normal to slightly compress spring 74so that the adjustment may be made with a minimum of friction. Thisadjustment will vary in accordance with the area of the opening, as 68or 69, and also whether it is actual tooth material being ejected orwhether it may be filling material. The forefinger usually is placedupon valve member 42, depressing the same after the showing of Figure 2.When material is broken loose from the tooth, the valve is allowed toopen momentarily so as to give the benefit of a higher degree of vacuumthan otherwise would have been drawn on the bore of suction hose 76 andthe various bores within the hand piece. This mode of operation alsopermits the minimum entry of air which entry tends to neutralize, to adegree, the vacuum drawn on the system by the vacuum pump.

Because of the expansion of gases caused by suction of air, thetemperature in the surrounding area is lowered, thus provingadvantageous in its effect on the tooth which is heated by the frictionof the burr during the process of cavity preparation. This tendency ofpartial temperature control serves to lessen pain. The vacuum at the tipof the instrument may be used directly to suck in debris surrounding thenerve pulp of the tooth in cases such as where there is exposed,partially decayed nerve pulp in a cavity which is to be capped. Thispulp is often removed by blowing air on the same in present practice andof course impurities could become imbedded in the pulp in the processresulting in infection.

It is believed that it will be clearly apparent from the abovedescription and the disclosure in the drawings that the inventioncomprehends a novel construction of a vacuum ejector for dental debris.

Having thus disclosed the invention, I claim:

1. A hand piece forming a vacuum ejector for dental debris, comprising:a tubular body of a size to be held in a hand having a suction tip onone end, said suction tip being of small size capable of being inserteddirectly inside of a dental cavity, means for connecting a vacuum pumpto the other end of said body, a first throttling valve in said bodymanually operable to be set in various positions to change the effectivesize of the air passageway in said tubular body at the location of saidthrottling valve, a second interrupter valve in said body having a pushbutton for manual control operative to close the air passageway in saidtubular body at the location of said interrupter valve upon depressionof said push button, said interrupter valve having spring means biasingthe same normally to an open position.

2. A hand piece forming a vacuum ejector for dental debris, comprising:a tubular body of a size to be held in a hand having a suction tip onone end, the other end of said body being flanged forming a valve plate,a valve housing slidably and rotatably monuted on said tubular bodyhaving an annular wall extending outward enclosing said valve plate anda valve member removably secured 'to the end of said annular wall andabutting the face of said valve plate, said valve housing havingcompression spring means between its inner end and said valve platebiasing said valve member against the face of said valve plate, the boreof said tubular body being straight and axially aligned except for anend portion in said valve plate which is angularly disposed in relationto the remainder of the bore, said valve member having a matchingangularly disposed bore meeting the angularly disposed bore in saidvalve plate in one position of said valve housing whereby an adjustablethrottling effect is produced by rotation of said valve housing, and

said valve member having means for connecting a vacuum pump thereto.

3. The subject matter of claim 2 in which there is visible indicia onthe valve assembly indicating a series of relative positions betweensaid angularly disposed bores and said valve housing having a springpressed detent and said tubular body having a series of depressionsengaging said detent at said series of positions.

4. A hand piece forming a vacuum ejector for dental debris, comprising:a tubular body of a size to be held in a hand having a removable suctiontip on one end, a vacuum pump and a tube connecting the other end ofsaid body with said vacuum pump, a valve in said body manually operableto control the effective size of the air passageway in said tubular bodyat the location 5 of said valve, said tip being formed of yieldablematerial and being secured on said tubular body by having a taper to thebore of said tip and the outer surface of the end of the tubular body toWhich it is secured having a corresponding taper.

5. The subject matter of claim 4 in which the exterior surface of theend of said tip and the bore therein have U-shaped contours.

6. The subject matter of claim 4 in which the exterior surface of theend of said tip and the bore therein have 10 oblong contours.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

